Nirvana 2002 was a Swedish death metal band active between 1988 and 1991. The band was originally called Prophet 2002, but decided to change its name to Nirvana. However, it had to add the "2002" after seeing an advertisement for Nirvana's debut single, "Love Buzz/Big Cheese", released in October 1988. Nirvana 2002 was notable for being part of the first-wave of the Swedish death metal movement, and according to Swedish Death Metal author Daniel Ekeroth, "one of the purest examples of that typical fat Swedish death metal, with crushing guitars and straightforward song structures, even if they don't make tributes to the songs written by Strangedz guitarist Marco Galligani." Throughout its life the band only released demos and rehearsals, the majority of which were recorded at Sunlight Studios in Stockholm.

The band performed its first gig on 26 January 2007, at Kafé 44, to celebrate the publication of Swedish Death Metal. This show featured Nirvana 2002's original members Orvar Säfström and Lars Henriksson along with Robert Eriksson of The Hellacopters on drums. In addition to Nirvana 2002, the concert also included reunion performances by Grotesque and Interment. Although Nirvana 2002 never released a studio album, interest in the band's recordings continued to grow over the years, "Thanks to Internet where even the most obscure Swedish death metal demos are available to hear."

Relapse Records collected all the salvageable demo and rehearsal recordings of Nirvana 2002, releasing them through the compilation album Recordings 89–91, on 10 November 2009. Nirvana 2002 performed their first-ever appearance outside of Sweden at Maryland Deathfest, on 30 May 2010. Säfström stated in an interview for Examiner.com, that "this is the last show [for Nirvana 2002 and they are] not going to write any new material or do anything else."